13 readers share their spookiest ghost sightings
"I’m usually pretty skeptical about that stuff. I’m a believer now!"
It seems Boston.com readers are no strangers to the supernatural. Given that Massachusetts has been ranked as one of the most haunted places in the country on a number of occasions, we wanted to know if our readers have any personal experience with the paranormal.
It turns out there are no limits to the haunting grounds of Bay State ghosts. We heard from readers who say they’ve had ghostly experiences in Leominster, Lexington, Boston, Winchendon, and more. These hauntings include both the friendly and the sinister and have even changed the minds of a couple of paranormal non-believers.
Below you’ll find stories from 13 readers recounting some of their spookiest encounters.
Some entries may be edited for length and clarity.
Scary run-ins
“When my daughter was a newborn, she slept in a rocker next to my bed. One night, I woke up to see the rocker rocking on its own. When I looked up, there was a faceless figure, all black, rocking the cradle. I was paralyzed with fear.” — Cass, Boston
“I worked as a dishwasher in an Italian restaurant in Winchendon, Mass. in high school that has been closed now for years. The building was old and housed everything from restaurants to a tannery business since its construction in the 19th century. The basement used to always give me the heebie-jeebies and one day it finally happened. I was asked by the bartender to retrieve some ice from the ice maker down there and for some reason, the chef kept a rack of knives near the basement doorway. As I approached the doorway a small paring knife flew out of the rack and landed right at my feet. Scared out of my wits I dropped the ice bucket and hightailed it out of the kitchen as fast as I could. We always joked that there were ghosts in the building and I’m usually pretty skeptical about that stuff. I’m a believer now!” — Greg M., Hubbardston
“This occurred in Leominster late one night when I was walking alone on the Twin Cities Trail between Fitchburg and Leominster. I was walking to the store with a flashlight and felt a presence to my immediate right just off the trail in the brush. Looking right, what I can testify to witnessing was a tall (over six feet) grayish/slightly blue faceless entity that moved and shifted silently, then promptly disappeared, as if I had spooked it — but it was I who was spooked! It happened so quickly that I didn’t even have time to react before the apparition disappeared though it was definitely there, and I wasn’t hallucinating. I wonder if it was Native American in origin given our state’s history. Now I think twice before taking that trail at night when alone!” — Steve L., Leominster
“I encountered the Lynnfield Ghost Lady one night in 1998 or so. I had just started dating my soon-to-be wife, and we were driving to her house, heading down Walnut Street when we saw her. She was dressed completely in white, with a white hooded cloak covering her face. Her head was down and her arms stretched out from her sides as she walked down the side of the dark road at a brisk pace. We drove past, not believing what we saw, and turned around a little way down the road. As I approached her again, I slowed down and rolled down the window. She turns to us, looks up, and screams “what!”, then drops her head and runs. We both screamed and I drove off as fast as I could, knowing it was just an older woman’s face but terrified nonetheless. We cruised around a few times after that looking for her, but never saw her again.” — Luke W., Wakefield
Benevolent spirits
“In 2017, my wife and I purchased an old saltbox home that was built circa 1760. It fronts an old colonial road. Local lore suggests the road was a pre-Columbian Algonquin footpath. Before moving in, we scoffed at anything supernatural. Over the years, however, we’ve experienced weird incidents that we can’t explain. We’ve started referring to our “kissing ghost.” Sometimes after an emotionally draining day, we can swear that someone kisses our lips just as we start to fall asleep. Last fall, my wife lost her mother. They were very close. She spent a long day planning/organizing a memorial service. Feeling drained, she went to bed before I returned from the supermarket. As she drifted off to sleep, she experienced a passionate kiss on her lips, which she attributed to me. She awoke to an empty house. Another time, I felt warm wet lips on mine, right before sleep, after getting laid off from a lucrative consulting gig. Nobody was home except me. Weirdly, our family photos are often found laying face down. We have several stories but the kisses definitely stand out.” — Crain V., North Adams
“It was a dark and very foggy night. I was driving home quite late through Lexington Center, when the fog began to swirl and ripple, and in the mist, I saw two very distinct figures cross Massachusetts Avenue. It wasn’t terribly scary, but I did get a bit of a chill from it. With all that has happened in Lexington, it only stands to reason that there are many spirits wandering our town. I do believe they are benevolent; Lexington is such a wonderful place to live!” — Anabel G., Lexington
“A small woman dressed in a housemaid dress with white color cuffs, and an apron walked in front of me in an old retreat center in Byfield, Mass. She did not seem to see me and it felt like I was watching a film. She was smiling and bustling into the linen closet. I also ran to the linen closet and snapped on the overhead light. There was no one there. Nothing scary. Just fascinating.” — Cynthia Pape, Dorchester
“Saw my first ever ghost about four years ago at about 52 years old. A deceased cat in a ‘phased’ appearance, exactly like Geordi LaForge and Ro Laren in Star Trek Next Gen, ran across the fireplace threshold and ‘vanished’ again. Here’s the freaky part: my wife saw him too! I said, “it must have been the new cat or something” and she looked up to see the new cat exactly where she had left him, down the hall in the kitchen! First, last, and only ghost I/we’ve ever seen. Freaky freaky freaky.” — Jeff K., Middleton
“I rented an apartment on North Margin Street in the North End of Boston and experienced a few haunting events. My cat regularly would follow with her eyes something moving around the apartment. My rocking chair frequently rocked without anyone visibly in it. Once it sounded like every pot and pan in the kitchen was put on the counter and then knocked to the floor yet there was nothing and no one in the kitchen and no explanation for the extremely loud noise. The most extraordinary event was one evening after my roommate Marie got home from work, she was tired and lay down for a nap and after a short time, I felt an extreme feeling to check on her (which I would never normally do) and when I knocked on her door and opened it her room was on fire from a candle that dripped down her bedside table and the curtain had just caught on fire. We put out the fire and our minds were blown. We believed there was a spirit in our apartment but after the fire incident, we were no longer afraid of it.” — Aileen K., North End
Haunted houses
“My friend and I were in the basement of my house playing darts one night this past winter while watching the Olympics on TV with the volume low. I stopped mid-throw when I heard the very clear and distinguishable sound of someone walking heavily down the steps of the basement to come down to where we were. I could clearly hear the crunch of the exact number of steps it would take to make it down to the basement. My friend also heard this. We both ran towards the stairs, as we assumed someone had broken in upstairs while we were downstairs. After searching the entire house top to bottom, it was clear we were home alone. My friend and I both do not believe in ghosts but have absolutely no explanation for this one.” — Brian, Waltham
“My husband and I bought a beautiful 1885 Victorian in 2021. The very first night, just after 11 p.m. I’m lying in bed alone, my husband in the shower, and I see a man walk by my open bedroom door. He was partially opaque, wearing a white undershirt, tan pants, and curly white hair parted to the side. We went on to see him frequently, walking the same path up the stairs and past our bedroom door — always between 11:04 and 11:09. We’ve lived in our home for over a year now and befriended our neighbors who have lived here since the 60s. I asked them one night, ‘Do you believe in ghosts?’ They responded with a prompt ‘no.’
“But I went on to tell them of the man we see nearly every night walk up our stairs and past our bedroom door. As I told them of the man and what he looked like, they grew quieter, sharing panicked glances with each other. Finally, our neighbor tells us I’m describing the former homeowner who passed away in the home decades prior. They knew him. It turns out he passed away downstairs but would come to bed at the same time every night.” — Catie, Stoneham
“484 Commercial St., North End, Boston. While hanging with a friend in his apartment I noticed a salt shaker on top of the microwave begin to wiggle slightly. When I turned my head to look directly at the salt shaker it violently flew across the living room and smashed into the wall. Salt everywhere! I never went into my friend’s apartment again.” — Joe, North End
“I lived in a very old condo with a hidden door in the attic. The door only closed from the inside but it could only be accessed from the outside. Every time I opened it, I found it closed the next day. I eventually discovered that a staircase to this section of the attic once existed and was now sealed. A friend suggested it may have been part of the Underground Railroad with the room used as a hiding place. The room on the other side was definitely a slave’s quarters at one time. We did find a date of 1820 inscribed in the attic as well.” — G. Gilbert, Marblehead
Be civil. Be kind.
Read our full community guidelines.To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address